E30 Zone

Hi guys, first off sorry if this topic has been covered before, I have given it a search but not found much (maybe didn't look hard enough lol).

Some of you may know from my readers ride thread that I have bought an e30 as a project to restore and just enjoy!

In the future, this summer hopefully I will be wanting to lower it (a lot!). I have seen many coilovers on ebay, some that are the "proper" type (spring + shocks attached) and the separate types (i.e. JOM's, with spring shock sperate).

I have been told that there is a lot of work required to fir coilovers, i.e. there is a lot welding required...Is there any guides that can help?

What would be the best type to go for and what make?
Bearing in mind:
I'm not going to be taking it round the track or "street racing" (I drive like a granny, used to having lowered cars and to many speedbumps/potholes lol),
It's not a daily, purely for weekends/shows etc
It's purely for aesthetics,
They need to be able to go fairly low
and I'm a student so don't want to spend loads.


I did a quick chop of an e30, and roughly how I want mine looking and the "stance" I want. If someone could tell me what is required for it, it would be much appreciated :

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Look forward to hearing your replies

Iirc this is a 318i? If it is, the JOM coilovers wont work, their inserts and spring perches are for the 51mm struts found on 6-cylinder e30's. You can change the struts over easily enough, just adds more cost! If you're not already on it, join stanceworks - They have really good threads on getting e30's low.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes it is a 318i lol

I'll join up and search around!

i have 45mm struts too, i have a set of lowering springs and it sits just nice. Not sure what they drop is, but about half the rear tyres are in the arches and the front top of the tyres sit just flush with the wheel arch, not quite as low as your pic but not too far off.

Get some custom GAZ coilovers, they'll make whatever you want, however normally you are better off with springs and dampers, just get bilsteins with some matching springs, make a huge difference.

I have been researching this for quite a while now, and lowering springs and shocks has been my solution unfortunately. I'll post pics of the drop and my set up once I have the car back from it's respray.

Only reason I want coilies is for uber lowness lol. I guess theres going to be a lot of work involved! Pics would be good

Most true coilovers require you to weld the E30 stub axle to the lower leg of the coilovers, these above were a threaded collar I welded to te stub axle - obviously you need to cut the old legs off.

Not much or difficult welding, you do need to get the dimensions right otherwise you may run out of adjustment.

Rears are rarely coilovers, so they re easy.

KW V1 can pretty much drop it on the floor.

KW you say, will have to look into them. Everyone's said the side will be really harsh but I've got a daily to be comfortable in